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a i m t o r o n t o [ d o t ] o r g
b o a r d o f d i r e c t o r s
parmela attariwala
nilan perera
rob piilonen
nicole rampersaud
joe sorbara
parmela attariwala
Described as “one of Canada’s most original and compelling artists”, violinist Parmela Attariwala has been active in genre-bending music and performance since moving to Toronto in 1994. She has toured and recorded with an array of musicians that includes Carla Bley, Ravi Naimpally, James Campbell, Anthony Braxton, Ed Hanley and Quinsin Natchov. She has also collaborated extensively – as composer, musician and movement artist – with a diverse range of choreographers, including Keiko Kitano, Claudia Wittmann and Karen Kaeja. An ardent improviser and proponent of improvisational pedagogy as a tool for cross-genre musical communication, Parmela performs regularly at AIMToronto events. In addition to traditional symphonic work, she also performs contemporary music with the Esprit Orchestra, Toca Loca and the Queen of Puddings Theatre Company. Parmela finds her creative home, though, in the Attar Project. Conceived as a vehicle to integrate the eclectic strands of her own musical background, the Attar Project engages artists across musical genres and artistic practices in virtuousic collaborations that maintain the essence of each while challenging the boundaries between them. Parmela’s current collaborators include Montreal-based tabla player Shawn Mativetsky and Toronto choreographers Gitanjali Kolanad and Kelly Arnsby.
Hailing from Calgary, Parmela received her formal training at Indiana University and the Bern Conservatory in Switzerland. She holds a Masters degree in ethnomusicology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (London, UK), and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto. Parmela has released two critically acclaimed recordings: Beauty Enthralled (1997) – “a cross-cultural handshake to set the mind spinning” (NOW magazine); and Sapphire Skies (2003) – “a recording to treasure.” (Wholenote magazine)
nilan perera
bio coming soon...
rob piilonen
Sudbury native Rob Piilonen is a flute player, composer, producer and DJ who has been active in the Toronto improvising scene since 1996. He has scored music for films and dance projects, and worked with a number of Toronto's leaders in various fields of the arts, music, and production. He teaches private lessons, and has a background working for arts and non-profit organizations in Marketing. He currently plays with many people and groups in many styles and leads the chamber-improv ensemble Rob's Collision.
more @ rob's myspace page
joe sorbara
Joe Sorbara has developed a reputation as a diverse and musical presence on Toronto's growing creative improvised music scene as a drummer and percussionist, composer, improviser, organizer and educator. His practice deals equally with pre-composed and instantly-composed or freely improvised music; but especially with the vast terrain in between these extremes: with the wonders and challenges offered by the process of negotiating various types and degrees of constraint and freedom.
Joe's own projects include Other Foot First and the Pickle Juice Orchestra. He co-leads a number of ensembles including the Remnants Trio (with Evan Shaw and Ken Aldcroft), and a duo with corporeal mime Julie Lassonde. Joe performs on a regular basis with the AIMToronto Orchestra, Ronda Rindone's Quorum, Ken Aldcroft's Convergence Ensemble. He also spends a great deal of time making music in ad hoc collaborations with improvisers from far and wide.
Joe has worked extensively as a workshop facilitator and guest lecturer at the University of Toronto, Humber College, Carleton University and elsewhere. He began teaching in the Music Department at the University of Guelph in 2007 where he currently directs the Contemporary Music Ensemble, a large ensemble focusing on improvisation, and works with young percussionists in the Applied Music program.
Sorbara has a strong sense of community and has dedicated himself to applying his energies to the organizing and building of the creative music scene in Toronto. In addition to his activities as a performing musician, Sorbara runs Oval Window Records out of his home and serves the local music community as the director and co-curator of the weekly Leftover Daylight Series; now in it’s sixth year. He is a founding member of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto and has served on AIMToronto's board of directors since its beginnings in 2004.
more @ oval window music dot org
nicole rampersaud
Critics and musicians alike have called Trumpeter and Composer Nicole Rampersaud “impressive”, “thoroughly engaging” (The Live Music Report) and as having “the chops and ideas to make some serious noise” (Taylor Ho-Bynum). Her ability to move seamlessly and effortlessly through a broad range of musical idioms is earning her a reputation as a versatile and unique voice in the creative music scene in Toronto and abroad.
In addition to being heavily involved in the Toronto scene, Nicole continues to be an in demand performer in cities across Canada and the United States. She has performed with some of today’s leading artists including: Anthony Braxton, Bob Brookmeyer, George Garzone, Evan Parker, Django Bates, Dave Holland, Uri Caine, Jeff Coffin and Joe Morris. She has recorded and collaborated extensively with Rakalam Bob Moses, the latest of which has been released on the Sunnyside Records label.
As a leader, Nicole’s Quintet was invited to perform a set of new compositions at the Festival of New Trumpet Music, where she was also a part of the New York premiere of Anthony Braxton’s Composition #103 for Seven Trumpets, with Mr. Braxton conducting. She has since performed the piece with Mr. Braxton at the Ars Nova Workshop in Philadelphia.
Born and raised in Toronto, Nicole holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto’s Jazz Performance program. She received her Masters Degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston on scholarship where she studied improvisation privately with John McNeil, Danilo Perez, Joe Morris, Jerry Bergonzi, and Joe Maneri. She also studied composition with Michael Gandolfi and Ken Schaphorst.
Today, Nicole maintains a busy performance schedule as both a leader and side person. She is also a co-curator for the weekly Leftover Daylight Series and is the newest board of director for the Association of Improvising Musicians, Toronto.
past board members
ken aldcroft
rob clutton
nick fraser
scott thomson
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